We are training ourselves – in our bodies, in our minds, through the practice, through the teachings – to make it more likely that in a moment of suffering, in a moment of threat, that we will be able to have an intention to, and maybe some sort of capacity to respond to courageous connection, instead of tightening into separation and division.

Soshin Teah Strozer is Brooklyn Zen Center’s root teacher. Teah is a Zen Buddhist priest, dharma teacher, and lineage-holder in the Soto Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman and served as BZC’s guiding teacher until December 2017.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Soshin Teah Strozer is Brooklyn Zen Center’s root teacher. Teah is a Zen Buddhist priest, dharma teacher, and lineage-holder in the Soto Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman and served as BZC’s guiding teacher until December 2017.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

When I looked out at most of the people who are practicing, they are not priests, you guys are lay people.  And I know a number of lay people who are wonderful in their practice, deep in their practice, and perfectly capable of holding out their hand and bringing other people across.  So, I feel rather strongly, if most of the people are going to be lay people, then why don’t we completely recognize, and confirm, and acknowledge, lay people as a legitimate path; completely legitimate practice opportunity.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

This dharma talk was offered by Brooklyn Zen Center’s root teacher Teah Strozer during a three-day sesshin in 2017.

We have this war inside, because we think of ourselves as an object. Good and bad, right and wrong.  And we think of it as ‘my life’, which is eventually seen to be a mistake.  It’s not my life. It is Life, in fact, living itself as me for a moment; for like a blink of an eye.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.

Kaira Jewel Lingo teaches meditation and mindfulness, with a focus on activists, people of color, artists, educators, families, and youth. She began practicing mindfulness in 1997 and she is an ordained nun in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing.

Our audio dharma talks are offered free of charge and made possible by the donations we receive. If you would like to support Brooklyn Zen Center, please visit the “Giving” section of our website.